1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fluid delivery systems, and more particularly to lightweight, miniaturized fluid transport systems suitable for a variety of uses including topical and intravenous fluid delivery.
2. The Background Art
The administration of fluids to patients is a well-known medical procedure for, among other things, administering life sustaining nutrients to patients whose digestive tracts are unable to function normally due to illness or injury, administering antibiotics to treat a variety of serious infections, administering analgesic drugs to patients suffering from acute or chronic pain, administering chemotherapy drugs to treat patients suffering from cancer, etc.
The intravenous administration of drugs frequently involves the standard syringe and needle. This simple method is not conducive to a progressive and systematic delivery of multiple doses of fluid over a longer time period. It is known to meet such needs with the use of an IV pump connected or built into a so-called IV administration set including, for example, a bottle of fluid to be administered and typically positioned upside down, a sterile plastic tubing set, and a pump for pumping fluid from the bottle through the IV set to the patient. Other mechanisms may be included to manually stop the flow of fluid to the IV feeding tube and possibly some monitoring devices.
Current IV pumps generally are of two basic types: electronic pumps and disposable non-electronic pumps. Although the electronic pumps have been significantly miniaturized and do include some disposable components, they are nevertheless generally high in cost, require frequent maintenance with continued use, and may be difficult for a layman to operate if, for example, self treatment is desired.
The disposable non-electric pumps generally consist of small elastomeric bags within a hard shell container, in which the bags are filled with IV solution under pressure. The pressure generated by the contraction of the elastomeric bag forces the IV solution through a fixed orifice at a constant flow rate into the patient's vein. Although these pumps are much less expensive than the electronic pumps and eliminate the need for maintenance (since they are discarded after every use), their drawbacks include the lack of monitoring capability, the lack of the ability to select different flow rates, limited fluid capacity, and still relatively high cost for a disposable product.
It is often desirable to accomplish fluid delivery by a topical administration of the fluid to allow the fluid to drift into the skin by osmosis. The HARTS COLLAR.TM. is known in the art to include a porous fluid holder for strapping around the neck of a patient, usually a dog. The porosity of the collar is designed to release the contained fluid from the collar at a desirable rate onto the skin of the patient to enable the skin to gradually absorb the fluid. The drawbacks include nonuniform application due to movement of the patient, nonuniform delivery rates, and the lack of ability to select different flow rates.